


Crashing the Ship

by Frigid



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-24
Updated: 2014-06-24
Packaged: 2018-02-06 01:42:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1839709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Frigid/pseuds/Frigid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A drabble prompted by a friend for some slightly angsty quarian fic about Koris and Gerrel, except I went a bit further than that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Crashing the Ship

Koris groans, wincing in pain as he grips the console and pulls himself up. Clutching at his chest, he looks around the bridge. The Qwib-Qwib escaped any damage that might down the ship straight away, but with being in the middle of a war between two massive fleets, any damage was serious. Most of his crew appears to have survived, at least.

The VI’s voice, as flat and unemotional as ever, calls out across the ship.

“ _Warning. Enemy cannon has locked on the ship. Perform evasive manoeuvres. Warning. Enemy cannon has locked on the ship. Perform evasive manoeuvres.”_ He curses. The antiship cannon reloaded quicker than he thought. The ship’s engines are too damaged to move them now. His crew are looking at him, he can see Dorn’s shoulders shake in panic.

“The escape pods. Now.” Koris’ voice is hoarse, pain lancing through his shoulders as he gestures for his crew to move. He staggers to the console, opening the comm link to the ship. Repeating his message, he watches the vidscreens as his crew flees towards the escape pods. It’s only when he’s satisfied that everyone is in a pod, that he moves to the ship’s flight controls.

Koris pauses, looking at the comm link. There’s not enough time, but he opens it anyway.

“ _Koris? What’s going on?”_ Gerrel’s voice is loud, and strangely a relief to hear.

“An antiship cannon. I’ve ordered the ship to evacuate. I-“

“ _Where are you? Are you in an escape pod?”_ Koris blinks. Gerrel seems… panicked.

“I- No, there’s something I still need to do.” Keeping the comm link open, he staggers to the flight controls, using the consoles as support.

“ _What are you doing? It can’t be that important- Get your ass to the pods now!”_ Koris ignores Gerrel, struggling with the controls. The Qwib-Qwib is unresponsive, refusing to turn. Scowling, he checks the VI again. The cannon is preparing to fire, and if he doesn’t get his plan done soon, he’ll-

“ _Koris? Are you still there? Koris, talk to me.”_ He turns to look at the comm link. Gerrel’s voice is quiet.

“I’m here. I’m going to down the ship.” He pulls away all the power he can from the ship, away from its shields and weapons, to the flight controls. The gravity fields are failing, and he can sense as the ship tilts forward, directed straight at the antiship cannon on the surface of Rannoch below.

When he looks at the planet like this, seeing its vast landscapes dotted with rivers, set against the backdrop of the galaxy, Koris almost feels like it’s worth fighting for. Almost.

The VI tells him the cannon is about to fire. There’s no time left. He turns, ignoring the pain in his chest as he sprints towards the last escape pod, thanking whoever designed the ship for leaving one pod near the bridge. He can hear Gerrel’s voice behind him, frantically calling through the link. He has no time to explain to Gerrel.

Dorn is waiting for him, of course. He’s holding the pod door open, preventing it from leaving like the rest. Without power to the ship’s shields, stray missiles from both fleets slam into the ship, sending shockwaves throughout the whole body. Koris grits his teeth, staggering from one support to the next, before Dorn leans forward and grabs him, pulling him into the pod. As soon as the doors close, it jettisons away, leaving them both to be pulled off their feet straight into the wall. This time, Koris feels the snap and sharp pain from ribs breaking. When the pod stabilises itself, they drop to the floor, leaving him to groan and curl up. Dorn gently wraps his arms around Koris, pulling him towards the small medical station on the pod. He leans against the wall, waving Dorn away. There’s not many medical supplies, and none for broken ribs. He’ll leave them for his crew.

Out of the small window, Koris watches as his ship breaks apart, the light from Tikkun illuminating it all in a deep red glow. Combined with the burning ship parts, it almost looks like the giant kolyths that featured in all the stories of his childhood. The pod carries them down to Rannoch, and it’s not long before he sees the final blow from the antiship cannon. The Qwib-Qwib is torn into two, breaking apart and between the pieces, Tikkun comes into full view.

“Admiral, I can’t get the comm link to work.” Dorn’s voice breaks through his thoughts. Koris pulls himself up.

“What’s wrong with it? Can it be fixed.” He needs to contact the other Admirals. _Especially Gerrel_ , he thinks.

“The Geth are jamming it… without getting rid of whatever’s doing it, we can’t use it.” Dorn shrugs helplessly. He’s a mechanic, not a comms specialist.

Koris’ fist meets the wall of the pod before he even realises he’d done it. Shoulders shaking, he drops his head.

“The crew are civilians,” he whispers. “They’ll be slaughtered before the Fleet even knows we survived.”

There’s not much they can do but wait for the pod to land. At least they’re able to strap themselves in to avoid being thrown against the wall this time. Stepping out onto Rannoch’s surface, Koris pauses to look around at the homeworld he’s never known. The nerve stim lets him feel the earth beneath his feet through his suit, the gentle wind as it blows through the rock formations. The ground looks red, red like blood as the setting sun makes everything glow. Above, it’s impossible to tell there’s a war going on, for only the stars can be seen.

The illusion of peace is shattered as he turns around. In the distance, the smoking remains of the antiship cannon can be seen, along with huge chunks of metal, all that remains of his ship after it crashed straight into the cannon.

Looking over the cliff below, he can see small silver figures moving away from the cannon. Already the geth are moving in to find him and his crew. Koris and Dorn share a look, before turning into the darkness. They’ve got work to do.

**Author's Note:**

> i really couldn't think of a title that wasn't a slight pun


End file.
